Species details: Click on each item to see an explanation of that item (Note: opens a new window)

Semi-deciduous shrub or tree; bark grey and more or less fissured and flaking; young branchlets with bark distinctly peeling off, revealing a reddish-brown under bark. Leaves opposite, narrowly to broadly elliptic-oblong up to 26 × 16 cm but usually 6-10 cm long and 3-6 cm wide, pubescence variable depending on the subspecies but often more densely when young, inconspicuously covered with scales beneath and with conspicuous net-veining, especially beneath; margin entire, often rolled under; petiole stout, up to 10 mm long. Flowers in dense axillary spikes, up to c. 10 cm long but mostly 4-6 cm long, greenish-yellow to yellow, appearing just before or with the new leaves, sweetly scented; petals small, sometimes ciliate at the apex. Fruit 4-winged, as long as wide, 2-3 cm, sticky and bright red when young, drying to tan-brown.